DAVIS, Calif. – UC Davis will stay local for its next two matches and face the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday at 4:30 p.m., in a neutral-site matchup at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., before hosting the Drake Bulldogs in its final home non-conference match of the season Sunday at 11 a.m.

Sunday’s event is the final opportunity to watch the Aggies compete in Davis before the start of Big West action. The following nine matches will all take place on the road until UC Davis returns to Aggie Soccer Field on Oct. 17 to face Hawai’i in its Big West home opener.

Coming off a 1-0 Causeway Cup victory over Sacramento State on Aug. 23, UC Davis will face an Iowa team also victorious in games played last week at Drake, and against Western Michigan, by scores of 1-0 and 3-1 respectively.

In Iowa’s season opener at Drake, it was sophomore forward Lana Bonekemper that netted the game-winner, on a penalty kick, with 15 minutes remaining in the match to help the Hawkeyes start the season with a win.

Two days later versus Western Michigan, junior defender Melanie Pickert scored her team’s first two goals to secure the Hawkeyes’ 20th-straight victory over a non-conference opponent.

Iowa last loss against a non-Big 10 team took place on Sept. 19, 2010, at Nebraska.

Senior forward Ashley Cantrall chipped in another goal in that Western Michigan to give her team an insurance goal heading into the final portion of the match.

Friday’s event is the first-ever meeting between Iowa and UC Davis.

For the second time in school history, UC Davis will face Drake in its final home non-conference match of the 2013 season. For the Bulldogs, that contest will close a weekend that also includes a Friday night meeting at Pacific, one that will kickoff shortly after the conclusion of that afternoon’s Iowa-UC Davis matchup.

The Aggies last faced Drake in a tournament hosted by Long Beach State on Sept. 5, 2004, a match that ended in the Bulldogs’ favor by a 2-0 score.

After falling to Iowa in their season opener 1-0, the Bulldogs allowed three second-half goals to SIU Edwardsville two days later to drop both contests in their inaugural week of action.

Senior forward Paige Dusek is responsible for the Bulldogs’ only goal of the season and leads the team in both shots (7) and shots on goal (3).

MARCH TO THE MILESTONE With 195 wins (and counting), UC Davis head coach Maryclaire Robinson is one of a handful of coaches with a realistic shot of reaching the 200 career victory milestone this season. In her 22nd year at the helm of the women’s soccer program, she enters the 2013 campaign with a 194-160-31 career record and .544 winning percentage.

JERN EARNS DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDJunior goalkeeper Taylor Jern received the inaugural Big West Defensive Player of the Week award for the 2013 season as announced by the conference on Monday, Aug. 26.

The Corona, Calif., native played all 90 minutes in UC Davis’ season opener on Aug. 23 against the visiting Sacramento State Hornets in this year’s Causeway Cup match. In addition to helping the Aggies’ extend its unbeaten streak against their regional rivals to seven seasons, Jern also picked up her second career shutout.

Jern only recorded one save against the Hornets, but it came at a crucial point of the match as she redirected a point-blank attempt to keep Sacramento State from tying the score at one apiece.

She is the first Aggie to receive weekly accolades from the Big West since Lisa Kemp was named Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12, 2011, and the second to receive defensive recognition in three-year history of the award.

Maria Mangana was the other Aggie to capture defensive accolades; for her efforts throughout the final week of the 2010 season, Mangana was rewarded by the conference on Nov. 1, 2010.

ROAD WARRIORSAfter Sunday’s home game against Drake, UC Davis will not compete in another home event until Oct. 17, when Hawai’i visits Aggie Soccer Field for the first time as a Big West opponent. Between Sunday, and that inaugural home conference contest against the Rainbow Wahine, the Aggies will compete in nine consecutive matches on the road.

Included in that block of action are two tournaments; UC Davis will face San Francisco (Sept. 6) and Cal (Sept. 8) at the San Francisco Tournament before squaring-off against Texas Tech (Sept. 20) and host New Mexico (Sept. 22) at the Jack in the Box Classic.

Other non-conference road action will take place at Utah (Sept. 13), Utah Valley (Sept. 15) and Pacific (Sept. 27). UC Davis will also open its conference schedule on the road at Long Beach State (Oct. 10) and at UC Irvine (Oct. 13).

The nine-game trip is the longest faced by any Big West team this season, Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine each scheduled the second-longest swing with four straight matches away from their respective fields.

I’LL HAVE ANOTHER!With its 1-0 Causeway Cup win over Sacramento State in its season opener on Aug. 23, UC Davis extended its unbeaten streak over the Hornets for another season in front of the Aggie faithful. UC Davis has not lost a Causeway Cup matchup in the last seven years, and has not been defeated at home by the Hornets in the last eight.

OFF TO A SOLID STARTWith its one-goal, shutout victory over Sacramento State, UC Davis has not dropped its last four straight season openers. The win also marked the second occasion within the last three years where the Aggies opened their season with a Causeway triumph.

TWO TIMES THE FUNResponsible for UC Davis’ game-winning goal against Sacramento State, her first ever, Haley Hughes found the back of the net in her only shot taken that afternoon to also record her second career goal.

Junior goalkeeper Taylor Jern also recorded her second career shutout in a match that forced her to make only one save.

AGGIES PICKED EIGHTH IN PRESEASON POLLIn this year’s Big West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, UC Davis received 22 votes and was selected to finish in eighth place. As voted upon by the head coach of all nine conference teams, Cal State Fullerton received five first place and 72 total votes to earn the title of preseason favorite to capture a conference title.

Long Beach State and UC Irvine finished in a tie for second place with one first place and 62 total votes followed by Cal Poly, the recipient of the final two first place votes with its total of 59.

Cal State Northridge occupied fifth place with 54 votes, followed by UC Santa Barbara (30), Hawai’i (27), UC Davis and UC Riverside (17) in sixth through ninth place respectively.

BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERSThroughout the season, UC Davis' record will be broken down and available each week by the following categories: overall, at home, on the road, at neutral sites, against ranked opponents, against Big West teams, in Big West home and road games, in shutouts, in games decided by one goal/two or more goals, in overtime, when UC Davis/opponents score first, when leading/trailing/tied at halftime, when outshooting/outshot opponents, taking more/fewer/equal number of corner kicks and when committing more/fewer/equal number of fouls.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE AGGIES’ ROSTERIncluded below is a breakdown of UC Davis 2013 roster by class, primary position and hometown.